22–24
Micyllus
Very good; give me your hand.—I suppose you have been admitted to the mysteries at Eleusis? That must have been something like this, I should think?
Cynic
Pretty much. Look, here comes a torch-bearer; a grim, forbidding dame. A Fury, perhaps?
Micyllus
She looks like it, certainly.
5
Hermes
Here they are, Tisiphone. One thousand and four.
Tisiphone
It is time we had them. Rhadamanthus has been waiting.
Rhadamanthus
Bring them up, Tisiphone. Hermes, you call out their names as they are wanted.
Cynic
Rhadamanthus, as you love your father Zeus, have me up first for examination.
Cynic
There is a certain shade whose misdeeds on earth I am anxious to denounce. And if my evidence is to be worth anything, you must first be satisfied of my own character and conduct.
Rhadamanthus
Who are you?
Cynic
Cyniscus, your worship; a student of philosophy.
Rhadamanthus
Come up for judgement; I will take you first. Hermes, summon the accusers.
Hermes
If any one has an accusation to bring against Cyniscus here present, let him come forward.
Rhadamanthus
Ah, but that is not enough, my friend. Off with your clothes; I must have a look at your brands.
Cynic
Brands? Where will you find them?
Rhadamanthus
Never yet did mortal man sin, but he carried about the secret record thereof, branded on his soul.
5
Cynic
Well, here I am stripped. Now for the ‘brands.’
Rhadamanthus
Clean from head to heel, except three or four very faint marks, scarcely to be made out. Ah! what does this mean? Here is place after place that tells of the iron; all rubbed out apparently, or cut out. How do you explain this, Cyniscus? How did you get such a clean skin again?
